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DERMALOG biometrics technology helps fight fraud in Nigeria

The country’s government recently identified and removed more than 23,000 non-existent or ‘ghost’ workers from its state payroll by auditing biometric data and bank verification numbers (BVN) to identify holders of bank accounts into which salaries were being paid. Of the 312,000 public servants that were audited, 23,306, or 7% were found to have received their salary unlawfully or did not even exist. Some even received payments from several sources at the same time.

These cases of fraud were identified with the help of the automatic biometric identification system (ABIS) of the Nigerian banks, supplied by the German company DERMALOG.

A country-wide biometric identification system was implemented for 23 Nigerian banks in 2014 and for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2015, verifying the identity of bank customers with fingerprints and facial recognition before they open or access a bank account. Under this system, every customer receives a bank verification number.

More than 24 million bank customers have been registered, and their bank accounts are also secured by DERMALOG´s biometric technology.

According to Festus Akanbi, special adviser to Nigeria’s finance minister Kemi Adeosun, removing the nonexistent workers from the government payroll saves 2.29 billion naira ($11.5 million USD) a month.

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About Stephen Mayhew

Stephen Mayhew is the publisher and co-founder of Biometrics Research Group, Inc.. His experience includes a mix of entrepreneurship, brand development and publishing. Stephen attended Carleton University and lives in Toronto, Canada. Connect with Stephen on LinkindIn.